AKRON, Ohio — Padraig Harrington kept pouring in birdies as he tried to separate himself from everyone else at the Bridgestone Invitational. He arrived at the 18th green with a three-shot lead, happy with his day's work.

Then he glanced at the leaderboard for the first time yesterday.

Suddenly, that lead felt a little smaller.

His closest challenger was Tiger Woods, the world's No. 1 player and close to unbeatable at Firestone.

"I was surprised, yeah. I didn't know he was up there," said Harrington, who made four birdies on the back nine for a 3-under 67. "OK, he's in second place. There he is, 7-under par. There you go, three-shot lead. Is that enough? Probably not. I was trying to put as much room between me and the field. But at the end of the day, there's probably never enough room between you and Tiger.

"I know I have to play well tomorrow if I'm going to win."

Woods made a charge of his own about an hour earlier, running off four birdies over the last six holes, for a 65 that put some life into a dreary afternoon of light rain that slightly softened Firestone.

He has never finished worse than fifth on this track, and Woods has won six times in 10 appearances, three times when trailing.

Of his 69 victories on the PGA Tour, however, Woods has only won five times when trailing by three shots or more after 54 holes. Two of those came this year, a five-shot deficit at Bay Hill and a four-shot deficit at the Memorial.

But the players he was chasing were not Harrington, a three-time major champion and the last man to beat Woods worldwide when he was atop the leaderboard going into the final round.

And while Harrington conceded that Woods chasing him changes the dynamics, the Irishman usually is up to the task.

"I realize I'm going to have a difficult day, that's for sure," said Harrington, who was at 10-under 200. "This golf course has obviously been very good for Tiger ... so I don't think anything is going to be easy tomorrow. Probably at best, it's going to be a long, hard day and a battle. That's what I'm going to prepare myself for."

Jerry Kelly had a 69 and was five shots behind. Tim Clark, who had a one-shot lead early in the third round, also was five shots behind until he called a two-stroke penalty on himself for not replacing his ball mark on the 16th hole. He wound up with a 73, leaving him at 3 under.

Woods was happy to just have a chance.

He missed a short par putt on the eighth hole and fell six shots behind, with no indication Harrington would back up.

"I figured if I could put half a dent in that, I'd be all right," Woods said. "At least I'm there with a shot at it."

It could be a two-man show, and quite an opening act for the PGA Championship next week at Hazeltine.

Harrington has virtually disappeared this season while searching for the right swing. He only recently found the answer and finally has seen some results. He has a 54-hole lead for the first time since the 2007 Irish Open.

Woods, already a four-time winner this year, is going after his seventh victory at the Bridgestone Invitational and his 16th victory in a World Golf Championship.

It will be the first time Woods and Harrington have played in the final pairing since the 2006 Dunlop Phoenix on the Japan Golf Tour, which featured a rare collapse by the world's No. 1 player. Woods blew a three-shot lead with six holes to play, then lost to Harrington on the second playoff hole.

ROLLINS TAKES 4-SHOT LEAD IN RENO-TAHOE OPEN

John Rollins doubled his lead in the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open yesterday, shooting a 5-under 67 to move four strokes ahead of Ryan Palmer at Reno, Nev.

Rollins, who tied the course record with a 62 on Friday, had three birdies and three bogeys on the front nine, then rolled in a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 11th and added two birdies to finish at 17-under 199 at Montreux Golf & Country Club.

Palmer started the day five strokes off the lead, but birdied three of the first four holes and shot a 66 to reach 13 under.

Joe Ogilvie was another stroke back after a bogey-free 66 that included an eagle and four birdies. Martin Laird (66) was 11 under. He finished birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle, holing a 77-yard approach to the par-4 18th that spun back 20 feet.

Punahou School and UCLA alum Parker McLachlin is 12 strokes back of the lead after shooting 73.

SONG, JOHNSON IN U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR FINAL

Jennifer Song moved within a victory of becoming the second woman to win two U.S. Golf Association championships in the same year, beating Tiffany Lua 3 and 2 yesterday in the U.S. Women's Amateur semifinals at St. Louis.

The 19-year-old Song, the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links winner in June and low amateur last month in the U.S. Women's Open, will face Jennifer Johnson on today in the 36-hole final at Old Warson. Johnson beat 14-year-old Alexis Thompson 1-up.

Pearl Sinn is the only woman to win two USGA titles in a year, taking the 1988 Women's Amateur and Women's Amateur Public Links. Five men have accomplished the feat.

Song, from Ann Arbor, Mich., is coming off her freshman year at Southern California. The 17-year-old Johnson, from La Quinta, Calif., is an incoming freshman at Arizona State. She hasn't trailed through five matches and 76 holes.